DreamSpace Realty

Dana and Vida have been always very helpful and available when I needed it. They always contact the landlord when something happens and things usually get fixed pretty quick.
Vida sent me suggestions on how to design the studio just to make the most out of the space, which was great since I’m usually terrible at it. This is the second year that I will stay at the studio and they have taken care of the extension of the contract, which we handled via email which made my life very easy.
You can rely on them!

By far the best experience I’ve ever had with a realtor in NY. The apt hunting/​moving process in this city can sometimes be a nightmare, but Dana and his staff have always made it simple and stress-​free. I am about to go into my second apt with them and could not be happier. I work a pretty hectic schedule and they were always willing to work around my schedule. I’ve worked with some shady realtors, agents, brokers– this agency is far from that. Convenient, reliable, honest, & genuine. They are of their word and are willing to go above and beyond for their clients. They work with the best property owners in the area, I can actually say I love my landlord! Rare in this city. Hope this review helps you all Good luck with your search.

My experience with Dreamspace was the worst I have ever had with a broker while renting an apartment and I have lived in A LOT of apartments.
Beyond the misery their mismanagement caused my roommates and I, they flat out lied to us several times during the process, including forcing us to find a guarantor after gave them the deposit and were told we were approved and then coming back to us and telling us we didn’t get the apartment even with the guarantor. We were very close to not having a place to live.
Our broker, Mike, was a mess. I’m not even sure if he was a broker. We never saw a license and he seemed to have no idea what he was doing, constantly asking his colleague for help. He offered us soda from a previous failed business venture (there was an entire closet full of them.) Never had our papers organized, didn’t ever have solid facts about anything, included whether utilities were included at lease signing. When we brought this up he told us to «sign the lease and I’ll talk to the landlord.» UH, NO. When we refused, we had to wait until he spoke with his colleague (or superior?) who told him to wait a minute, went outside, smoked a cigarette and then came back in a cleared the situation up. While we waited.
He was unprofessional throughout the precess and on multiple occasions alluded to his recreational alcohol and drug use while working with us, telling us how hungover he was from partying the night before several times.

After seeing many of the negative reviews I felt the need to defend Joe and Dana. I’m actually in the process of moving out of my Dreamspace apartment because my rent went up $ 400/​month, but hey– that’s Williamsburg and it was probably below market value when I rented it. I’ve rented through Dana twice and never had an issue. I found one single bug my first week here and he immediately offered an exterminator. My building is clean and well– maintained and issues (my stove pilot broke) are always addressed quickly. I’ve met Joe personally and found him to be a decent guy. When my lock broke with me on the wrong side of the door, he sent one of his guys over right away. Dealing with brokers is like on-​line dating. It just might take several tries to find the right match. But compared to others (AVOID Rapid Realty) these guys are ok.

Dana was super helpful. We were late for our appointment and he was very gracious. showed us 3 places and we picked the best one. I like his laid back manner and straight forward business approach. I’d call him if we stay in williamsburg/​greenpoint when we decide to move again.

Dana was the broker for a loft that I moved into about 2 months ago. When my girlfriend and I got into talking with him at the very beginning I wanted to look him up, knowing that we would be writing pretty hefty checks to him for deposits, etc. Google turned up this Unilocal page, and needless to say it did cause us some worry. However, everything else seemed solid, and we really liked the space, so we went ahead with it.
There were a couple minor hiccups in the process, but Dana was great in smoothing things out:
When we moved in, Con Edison had not yet set up things for an electricity account. While we normally would have had to wait through the weekend untill a ConEd person could come and unlock the box, Dana arranged to have an electrician jump the box for the weekend, so we weren’t without power at all.
The Freight elevator broke down. Dana arranged to have several construction works who were working on other spaces in the building help us move in to our 4^th floor space.
Other than those hiccups, which I think Dana really rose to the occasion on, everything was smooth and straightforward.
Considering all the poor reviews on here, I thought a counterpoint was in order.

I found Dana Schneider at DreamSpace realty to be very professional and patient. He was willing to work with us on our move-​in date and he sufficiently answered all my questions regarding the building and the lease (never fun and always stressful to sign a lease in this city). He was also calm and put no pressure on us– which for me are good broker traits. I would recommend him — I would also use him again as a broker.

Where to even begin with DreamSpace Realty. Seriously.
I moved into a brand new Greenpoint 2 bedroom for a pretty reasonable rent for the space. But, as the saying goes: CHEAP IS CHEAP.
I should have known better when we signed the lease. Aside from insulting me for asking simple questions about his 35 page lease rider, the owner (Joe) was just a mean guy. There really is no other way to put it. He sat with half talking to us about the apartment and half looking at his phone to see what else he had going.
GRIEVANCES:
#1: NONE OF THE 2ND BEDROOMS IN THE BUILDING HAD A DOOR. We were all told the doors would come within days, then it was within weeks, then they finally admitted (actually, it was a workman who let is slip) that they had no idea. Moved in in February, got a door in August.
#2: Within the first 3 months of living in the apartment, we had a huge rain storm. EVERY SINGLE WINDOW LEAKED. And, no one was willing to come out that night to help patch or even help clean the floors. This happened Saturday, no one was willing to come by until Monday. AND, they weren’t willing to evaluate the mildew situation to make sure the floors were okay. Since then, mildew has crept up through the floor.
#3: THE HEAT BROKE. Flat out, no hot air. In the middle of the winter. When the outside temperature was 43 degrees. The super came to check it out and wasn’t able to help. Nice guy, but was clearly hesitant to talk to the office about actually sending someone out to fix it. FINALLY, after talking about withholding rent for days we had no heat, they sent an actual repair man who told me that someone had set the outside unit to AC, which is why no heat was ever coming out. They replaced the unit and it started to work. It took 2 months.
#4: THE HOT WATER BROKE. They came out to look at it and told us that they needed to order a part in order to fix it. They had the part sent to the wrong address, which caused a delay. They refused to go pick up the part at the incorrect address. We were WITHOUT HOT WATER FOR OVER A WEEK.
#5: In the Spring the owner realized that there was unused space that could be pulling in money. So, they set out to construct two apartments on the patio space. CONSTRUCTION TOOK ABOUT TWO MONTHS and went on ALL DAY EVERY WEEK DAY. Fire alarms went off in multiple apartments due to the influx of construction dust and our entry way and everything in it, was constantly covered in a layer of dirt. The carbon monoxide detector went off over and over again and when we finally got the maintenance crew out to look at it, they refused to believe that anything was wrong with it. They changed the batteries for us. (Because, you know, IT NEVER OCCURRED TO US TO CHECK THE BATTERIES.)
#6: At the end of our 16 month lease, THEY RAISED THE RENT BY 20%. Only when I threatened to tell the local blogging community about the issues we’ve had about the place, did they lower it to a 10% increase.
This is how the story ends:
The office called me to sign the lease. Unfortunately, my phone number has changed and I never heard the messages. They never bothered to call the other person on the lease and decided that could kick us out to get more rent. I finally got in touch with them and they asked me to come sign the lease that day. I re-​arranged my day to head to the office at 4pm to sign. I realized I’d run late and called them, they told me I had to be there AT 4PM. When I got there, they told me the owner wanted to speak to me first. I WAITED FIFTEEN MINUTES FOR HIM before he finally took me into his office and told me that they never had any intention of allowing us to sign a lease and that they had another tenant. We had to move out.
So, they demanded I come in THAT DAY. Demanded I be there at 4pm. Then, they were late and completely wasted my time. This guy is on a power trip and just felt like fucking me over. Maybe because he knows he’s intellectually outnumbered by the young people who rent from him. Hard to say.
In the middle of telling us that we had to move out, he took other phone calls, he told me that I didn’t «run this show,» that I was insignificant because he was old enough to be my dad and told me over and over again how much he didn’t care about the fact that we had paid our rent on time. He, essentially, was annoyed that we hadn’t been able to sign our lease yet and felt like making more money. Makes sense, but I have never been so disrespected.
I take full responsibility for not signing the lease on time, but the fact that these guys are unprofessional sociopaths makes this so much worse. We dealt with their bad operating practices and, in the end, were asked to leave on a technicality because they stood to make more money.
So, good luck with these folks. I sincerely hope he gets what he deserves.
NOTE: Jillian in the office is pleasant. Joe, the owner, is horrible.

Beyond the broker being late, unreliable, acting super unprofessionally, and not responding to emails/​calls after I signed the lease the landlord refused to give me my apartment. Claimed there was zoning problems he didn’t know about before hand. Can anyone say breach of contract? The broker Dana refused to give me more details and was intentionally vague because he knew he and his employer were in the wrong. They got me a different apartment but it was significantly smaller-​and oh, they lied about it’s square footage (use your measuring tape!). Do not use this broker if you can help it. Its a shame they have a monopoly on some beautiful real estate.
I should have known better when the broker had his feet on the table and playing Iphone games when I was filling out the application/​handing him a security deposit. How on earth does this guy have a job?

Apparently they are flush with cash as no one has even called me back after 2 calls for some rentals I saw. Status quo for brokers I suppose.